An additional 3,172 hectares of habitat for threatened species including koalas and mallee fowl are now protected in perpetuity, with 12 new additions to the NSW national park estate.
Member for Tweed Geoff Provest MP said 48 hectares of land adjoining the Cudgen Nature Reserve has now been added to the national park estate.
“In great news for threatened species, this land has been formally added to NSW national parks, giving this precious ecosystem the highest level of protection in perpetuity,” Mr Provest said.
“This land purchase has safeguarded and bolstered the role the reserve plays as an integral part of an east-west fauna corridor that assists the movement of koalas between the hinterland and the coast. A role that has increased in importance since the bushfires of 2019-2020 that affected a large area of northern NSW. This reserve, and addition, was untouched by those fires.”
“This land also supports the endangered bush cassia (Cassia marksiana) for which less than 100 mature trees are currently known to exist,” Mr Provest said.
This addition will strengthen the environmental values of our park by protecting endangered ecological communities, important wildlife corridors, and increasing the size of Cudgen Reserve.